Top law enforcement officials in Ohio are spending this Veterans Day hunting for the man they believe exploited the good name of America's warriors to abscond with more than $100 million.

The eccentric looking Florida man went by the name Bobby Thompson. As detailed in a report airing on World News with Diane Sawyer tonight, Thompson called his charity the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, and for eight years he raised money for the group, mostly through phone solicitations. He told donors the group was assisting needy veterans, and garnished this pitch with dollops of credibility by donating small amounts to legitimate veterans' groups.

Federal election records show he invested far more money -- more than $200,000 -- in campaign contributions to top Republican politicians, including President George W. Bush, U.S. Sen. John McCain, and the presumptive incoming Speaker of the House, John Boehner. In exchange, he received grip-and-grin snapshots with American political leaders -- the sort of photo that may be commonplace on office walls in Washington, DC, but looked to outsiders like evidence of an important man with heavy-duty connections.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray told ABC News that as much as $100 million donated to the charity over eight years cannot be accounted for, and Thompson was using a stolen identity. He has been indicted in Ohio and is now considered a fugitive.

"There is a national man hunt for the so-called Bobby Thompson," Cordray said. "This is in the charitable sphere what Bernie Madoff did in the investment sphere. It's shocking, and it's discouraging and it's depressing to think so many people wanted to give to veterans and in fact they were giving to this man and his sham organization."

Scam Wrapped in Patriotism

Veterans Call Case Distressing

Veterans groups and charity workers have called the case distressing. Paul Sullivan, of Veterans for Common Sense, called it an outrage that there might be scams taking advantage of the generosity many Americans feel toward veterans, and that fraud hurts the efforts of genuine veterans' groups.

"If he were truly in the Navy, we would keelhaul him," said Sullivan.

An added dimension to the case is the ease with which this alleged con man used political contributions to get up close to some of the nation's most powerful leaders.

Sheila Krumholz, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, monitors the role of money in politics. She told ABC News she found the case deeply troubling.

"At some point over the years, one would have expected that somebody would have looked up the donor and said, 'Hey I can't find any evidence that this person exists,'" she said.

Election lawyers told ABC News that, now that authorities believe Bobby Thompson was not the real name of the man doling out all the campaign checks, this may become one of the largest cases of illegal contributions in recent memory. Brett Kappel, a D.C. election lawyer, called it perhaps "the most audacious campaign finance fraud in the past decade."